The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom introduces players to a vast world filled with over 100 shrines, each housing distinctive puzzles that challenge Link's newly acquired abilities. Nearly all of these shrines will require skillful use of Link’s Ultrahand ability, and the Jochi-iu Shrine is no exception.
The Jochi-iu Shrine stands out with a puzzle reminiscent of the popular party game Jenga. While less intense than its real-life counterpart, the tower still poses a threat of collapse if mishandled. This guide presents a solution to the puzzle of Jochi-iu Shrine, along with instructions to retrieve both chests within, in Tears of the Kingdom.
Jochi-iu Shrine Walkthrough (Courage to Pluck)
The Jochi-iu Shrine is located at coordinates 4346, 2875, 0165, just southeast of Bloodleaf Lake, in the North Akkala Foothills. The player can reach the shrine easily by following the road that leads up to the Akkala Ancient Tech Lab, where a piece of the valuable Yiga armor set can be retrieved. Completing this shrine unlocks a valuable fast travel point that can be used to quickly return to Malanya's Spring, home of the benevolent Horse God.
As Link steps foot inside Jochi-iu Shrine, he can see an unreachable chest perched on a ledge to his left. To his right, a locked door awaits, while straight ahead stands a colossal tower of blocks crowned by a hefty stone ball. Link will need to carefully remove blocks from this tower to solve the puzzle of the shrine and obtain its blessing.
The player should descend a ramp situated in front of it to give appropriate range to handle the blocks with the Ultrahand. As tempting as it may be, the player should not jump and glide to land on either the tower or its platform. Doing so will trigger the opening of the bottom platform, plunging Link and the puzzle pieces into the abyss below. Both Link and the puzzle will respawn, and the tower puzzle will reset entirely.
On the ledge in front of the tower, the player's attention is drawn to a flickering power supply and its corresponding activated circuit on the floor. Another, inactive connection line is found a short distance away and leads up to a switch in the main room. Link must energize this switch to activate a nearby platform and enable him to retrieve the large ball perched atop the tower. To achieve this, he must carefully remove blocks from the puzzle tower.
Getting the first chest in Jochi-iu Shrine
Hidden within the towering structure of Jochi-iu Shrine, there lies a chest containing a valuable Large Zonaite. If players desire to acquire this chest, it is advisable to do so before solving the puzzle and unlocking the gate leading to the Shrine's exit.
To retrieve the chest, Link should use the Ultrahand to remove the large obstructing block in front of the chest. With this block out of the way, Link can extend the Ultrahand to reach the chest, allowing him to place it on the floor behind him and open it to collect its contents. Once the chest has been collected, the player can opt to jump into the hole to reset the puzzle if necessary.
Solving the puzzle of Jochi-iu Shrine
To solve the puzzle within Jochi-iu Shrine, Link will need to remove and utilize two blocks from the towering structure. However, care must be taken to select blocks that won't cause the entire tower to topple and reset the puzzle.
Begin by extracting the middle block from the third row starting from the bottom and carefully placing it on nearby level ground. Next, remove the far leftmost block from the fifth row starting from the bottom and set it aside. These two blocks can be removed in any order. By executing these steps, the tower will maintain its stability and grant the player the essential pair of blocks necessary for solving the puzzle.
These two blocks should then be combined and positioned to establish a connection between the powered circuit and the one lacking power. By doing so, the blocks will serve as conductors of electricity, energizing the second circuit and activating a switch situated on the platform above. This activates the nearby moving platform which provides closer access to the tower.
Link should seize the opportunity and leap onto the platform and, once in appropriate range, he should use Ultrahand to grab the large stone ball from atop the tower.
Bring the ball back to the main room using Ultrahand, then drop it in the large hole in the floor. This will solve the puzzle to opening the gate leading to the exit of the shrine.
Getting the second chest in Jochi-iu Shrine
Before leaving, the player should also retrieve the second chest in Jochi-iu Shrine that they encountered upon entering the shrine. This chest is very easy to obtain and is most convenient to grab after solving the shrine’s puzzle, so the same blocks can be used.
Simply grab each of the blocks that were removed from the tower to provide power to open the door, and fuse them together to form stairs that can be used to reach the ledge and open the chest, which contains a Zonaite Bow. The shrine is then completed and Link can head into the previously locked room to claim his reward.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is available now for the Nintendo Switch.